New To Sports Betting

I'm totally new to sports betting, but I'm interested in making some bets during the World Cup starting in June. My mom is French and we grew up with soccer in the house. I don't follow sports in general, but I always watch the world cup every four years (and the Olympics). I have an online account where I can make sports bets, but can any of you give me any tips on the best way to approach sports betting? I'm thinking of just betting on who will win on individual games but I see there are other bets that can be made. Thank you so much for any help!

 

This may sound cliche', but you gotta do your homework. Only bet the sports you honestly can tell yourself you know the best and never bet based on your heart (favorite team). Soccer I would imagine is like hockey, low U/O and 1 goal spreads.

Parlays: Win based on multiple events for a better payout. ex. You bet team A, B, and C will win. You only get paid out if all 3 win; nothing for 2 or 1 winning.

 

Sports betting is an art...and I am not artistic

 

Personally, I wouldn't worry so much about doing your homework. Sounds like you're making these bets to have a little fun, so go with the teams you like and don't waste time studying up (unless you enjoy that kind of studying).

As for soccer, its not my field of expertise, but I believe on individual games the typical bets are wagering on one or the other team to win or a draw. Whichever bet you make will have certain odds. So, for example, if you want to bet on France to win a certain game and the line is France -150, that means you have to bet $15 to win $10 (plus your original bet back). If you bet the underdog, the line will look something like France +150, where you bet $10 to win $15 (better payout because the team you are betting on is the underdog).

Also, with the World Cup, you can make wagers now regarding which country will win each group.

Hope that helps

 

I know nothing about soccer, but I looked at my on-line site and assuming you want to bet France to win it all, they are +20. So a $10 bet would yield $210, including your original wager.

Holy crap, there are a lot of soccer bets available. I must admit it is the first time I ever clicked on the soccer tab.

 

My soccer knowledge is very, very low.

We don't even know the team rosters yet, those will be sent in by June 2, 2014.

I don't want to know what you are betting, but if you are just going to bet $20 bucks, bet with your heart. If you plan on betting $10,000, then I would want to be a little more pragmatic.

If you have a ton of knowledge and know which player will be injured and which player will get red carded, or which team is going to have the hot goalie, bet with it.

Personally, I would bet Spain, Brazil, and Argentina to win it all.

if you can make a bet on which teams will advance from each group that is probably the one I would do. Picking the outright champion is tough, but picking a generic one is fairly easy.

Group A Brazil and Mexico will advance
Group B Spain and (Netherlands or Chile)
Group C Columbia no idea who else
Group D I would not touch this group. Probably England and Italy
Group E France is in for sure
Group F Argentina and who from that from that group.
Group G Germany and Portugal Ghana gives the Yanks fits though
Group H Belgium and Russia


I go through and eliminate the teams I know won't be competitive.

Ok, since I made my list and I am only confident in Group A, Group G, and Group H, those are the three I would bet. Can you make a bet like that? Can you make a bet on which 16 teams will advance or the 8 top advancers?

Since I am a Yank, I will throw out Group G so I can cheer for the yanks, or you can look at it another way, either way you win. If the Yanks win you are happy for the Yanks, if the Yanks lose, you are happy for your pocketbook. If you are a true US Soccer Fanatic you would bet Germany and Portugal just to try and put a curse on them. Oh yeah, in sports gambling parlance, it definitely works.

I would wait to bet the champion once you saw teams play and saw how a goalie is playing and feeling. Of course, the odds will tighten but at least you are not just wasting a bet.

France looks like that have a shot, so I would definitely make a MOM bet.

No idea how the Brazilian players will handle the pressure of the fanatical fans. Every one of their games will be absolutely fan crazy, and if they lose, Ii would not want to be in attendance at that game. More than likely, the Brazilian military will be out in force at each of their games.

Since you made me do this exercise, I am going to be in Las Vegas for Memorial Day, I am DEFINITELY going to bet the World Cup.

 

Thank you guys!

I have some knowledge because I've read a couple of European soccer magazines that discuss the world cup, but I'm no expert. I know people who are though and I've been picking their brains (that sounds gross).

I plan on betting on individual games (not every game), not necessarily who will win which group or who will win it all. I plan on taking it one game at a time and bet per game for those games that I like as winners or have some information about.

I'm not concerned about making a ton of money, it really is just additional fun during the world cup, but since I don't know much about betting sports I figured I would ask. I noticed some different bets, but I will stick to just who will win a particular game, no point spreads or the other stuff, just who will win on each game I choose to bet on.

Should be fun! Any additional advice please let me know, but so far, THANK YOU!

 

I think the best way to bet the World Cup is to bet on the team you think will win the tournament rather than individual games. If you think the host Brazil will win, a hundred dollar bet would make you $250 profit. Since there is no heavy favorite to win the World Cup you can bet on 2 teams to win it all and still make a profit.

 

Be aware of team motivation. Some teams may only need a draw in a certain game to advance to the next round, others may need to score a lot of goals for goal differential purposes etc. I love the World Cup.

 

no offense, but nothing is for sure in the world cup.
the french team got eliminated in the group stage with a pretty good squad in 2002 and 2010.
i'm not saying that the french team gets eliminated, but NOTHING is a lock at the WC.
---------

i have seen a lot of draws the first "game day" in each group over the last 20 years. if a team loses the first game... uhhhh... trouble.
some "crazy" games early:
NED-SPA
ENG-ITA
SUI-ECU
GER-POR

it's difficult to get the first games "right"...it's getting "easier" in the later phase of the group stage.
you have to watch out for the seating for later rounds.

the winner of groupA plays the 2nd of groupB.
groupB finishes earlier then groupA.
so lets say spain wins groupB...brazil will try EVERYTHING to win groupA.
however, lets say spain finishes 2nd...then you might see some strange things on the last game day of groupA.

lets look even further. winner of groupA plays the 2nd of groupB and then the winner of 1st groupC vs 2nd groupD.

lets look at group G (usa, portugal, germany, ghana)...when anything goes as planned, BRAZIL is waiting in the semi1... and SPAIN in semi2...if you win groupG, you would face BRAZIL; if you finish 2nd in groupG you would avoid BRAZIL (if they win groupA, and so on) and face SPAIN.

a lot is going on. you need to know the complete setup of the WC.

 

Thank you, guys!

Since writing the original post I've gotten a lot of practice in with the English Premier League, and even Basketball and Hockey. I'm still not totally sure I'm doing it right, but at least the games are a lot more fun to watch!

What I've been doing is picking the underdogs who are not too far gone underdogs but have a chance to win. I'm not sure this is good strategy, but I can bet small to win big.

Can't wait until the World Cup starts in a couple of weeks!

 

Always cheer for your nationality, but bet with your head, not your heart.

That said, I like the odds of France (bet 5 to win 4) winning their group.

The most interesting groups are B (Chile, Netherlands & Spain) D (England, Italy & Uruguay) and E (France, Ecuador & Switzerland). Argentina (1/4) and Brazil (1/4) are super-locks to win their groups. The Cubs have a better chance of winning Group G than the United States (as does Ghana).

I'll be enjoying most of Group Play in beautiful Las Vegas, and I'll be cheering for four of my nationalities which qualified this tournament (England, Russia, Spain and Switzerland).

[YOUTUBE]HM-E2H1ChJM[/YOUTUBE]

 

I don't care for betting soccer despite its world wide popularity.

My genre is more geared to MLB, NHL and NFL and college basketball /football.

I know you are talking World Cup but if betting soccer especially overseas be very careful because there are influences that are out of your control.

This goes for overseas basketball as well.

On a few occasions I have bet outside my realm I have been like WTF on some games.

This is especially true to games played involving Italy based teams (away or home) if you catch my drift (mob) cough cough

At least that is the my limited experience .......... I will not test the waters again though.